Among Unseen Stars
by McCoy's-Trial-and-Error
Summary: The year is 5112. The IAS Aximili is nearing a new planet and has sent out a team to explore the homeworld of the Zanra. Also, Draconwolf88 on dA owns most alien species.
1. Chapter 1

Nichole Marthes stood at a terminal of the Interstellar Alliance Ship Aximili. Around her, aliens bustled about, keeping busy as they went about their daily work. She chewed on her lip, tapping her right foot behind her as she read over the galactic history of recent centuries up to the 5100s when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to see a white tiger-like alien with four arms. Two of them were crossed, and he was dressed in the IAS uniform—a one-piece uniform that was colored depending on the department you were in. His was green, showing he was in command. "Yorlski," she said with a nod to the Resharan. "Can I help you?"

"Yes. The captain wishes to speak with you."

"What about?"

"I do not know. You will have to ask him."

"Fine." She sighed and pushed past Yorlski, walking down the hallway. She stepped into the dropshaft. "Third floor," she said and felt that dropping sensation one always feels when in a dropshaft. Finally it stopped after twelve floors flew by before stopping. She stepped out and walked towards the captain's chair. "Captain Sochor?"

The captain turned, running a hand through his graying hair. "Yes, Lieutenant?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Nichole ran a hand through her curly brown hair, then tugged at her yellow uniform. "Sir, you wanted to see me?"

"Yes, yes I did. We are exiting Z-space near an unexplored planet. I have chosen you to lead a small team of two to investigate the planet."

"Yes, sir." She paused. "Who will be going with me?"

"That is up to you, Marthes."

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir." She nodded her head in salute and walked back to the dropshaft. "Um, floor…sixteen," she said, trying to think of where she could find the first of her two companions.

She walked down the halls, looking exhausted. This was the third floor she had gone to and walked around on the floor. The ship was the size of a small city, so it wasn't surprising that the scientist wasn't on any of the floors she had looked. Finally she saw a flash of tail. "Wait!" She broke into a run after the Andalite. "Ishtel?"

The Andalite stopped, swiveling a stalk-eye around. /Oh, Nichole. I apologize. I didn't see you. He smiled. Do you need something?/

"Yeah. I was wondering if you wanted to come on a mission with me."

/What type of mission?/ Ishtel questioned.

"I've been assigned to study a planet we're coming out of Z-space near," she replied.

/Sounds interesting. Who else is coming?/

"I was hoping to ask Sorine, see if she would be willing."

/Doesn't she usually avoid off-ship trips?/

"Yeah, but I was hoping she might." She shrugged a shoulder.

/If you wish. If she does not agree, might I suggest Fellrik Zhin? An archaeologist would be useful on a strange planet./

Nichole bit her lip at that, flushing slightly. "Maybe. I'll think about it."

/All right. When do we leave?/

"Not for another day. So I'll see you at the docking bay tomorrow at o'sixteen hundred."

/I will see you then,/ he said with a nod and walked away.

"Now to go find Sorine." Nichole went back to the dropshaft. Fortunately, the orange Orinu was more easily found.

She was on the eleventh floor, eating. The tentacles that came from her knuckles picked at her food as the human spoke. "Honestly, Nichole, I'm just not comfortable leaving the ship," the doctor said. "I think I'll be more useful here." She smiled.

"Okay. Thanks anyway," Nichole replied. "Time to go find Fellrik." She stood up from the table and went off in search of the Ventarii. It wasn't that Nichole didn't like Fellrik. If anything…that was the problem. She liked him a little too much and was afraid he might get hurt. But Ishtel was right. An archaeologist would be useful on the trip.

Fellrik was found, studying a bunch of rocks from the Hork-Bajir homeworld. He looked up as Nichole entered. "Ah, Nichole. Hello. Can I help you with something?" He smiled, his beak-like mouth turning upward. One of the many tentacles sprouting from his back reached out to pick up one of the rocks from under the microscope, and the eye in his forehead looked at it, as his other two looked at her. They were yellow with brown lenses. One of his six cat-like ears twitched as he awaited her response.

"Um…I was wondering, and you're perfectly free to say no, but…Captain Sochor put me in charge of a mission on an unexplored planet, and I was wondering if you would like to come along."

"I would love to," Fellrik replied, moving towards her on his six paws. He gently set the rock down. "When do we leave?"

"Not until tomorrow at o'sixteen hundred," she responded.

"Okay. I will see you then." He smiled again, closing his two main eyes, seemingly happy. Nichole smiled back and left the red alien to his work.


	2. Chapter 2

O'sixteen hundred rolled around, and Nichole stood with her hands on her hips, talking with Allerna. They were both in the same field and were discussing the history of the Andalite planet and Earth. The Andalite paused. /Shouldn't you get going?/ she questioned.

Nichole looked at the time. "Oh. Yeah. Well, I'll see you later, Allerna."

/Good luck!/ she called to the departing human.

"Thanks!" Nichole ran off to get to the docking bay.

She walked up to the Berenson, where the other two were waiting for her. Also there was a human woman and a male Yikik. She walked up to the blue-winged alien. He was working with his hands, using his claw-like black fingernails. His forearms were covered in feathers, as were his calves. His feet were shaped like paws, and his face was bird-like with feathers coming off around his face like hair. His buff form was covered in an orange uniform that covered his blue forearms and calves. "Kekeri? Listello?" She blinked, addressing the Yikik worker first. "Is everything okay with the ship?"

"Everything's fine," Listello replied. "We're just running a few last-minute maintenance tests. Nothing to worry about."

"Yeah, nothing to worry about," Kekeri added, turning back to his work.

"All right," Nichole replied, still looking a bit worried. This was the first mission she had been put in control of, and she wanted everything to go perfectly.

"Relax," Fellrik said, putting a red tentacle on her shoulder. "They have everything under control." He smiled.

"I guess you're right," she replied, shoulders sagging. Then she straightened up. "About how long is this gonna take?"

"Only another five minutes," Listello responded, not looking up from her work.

"Okay." She turned to her companions. Both wore wrist bands that were yellow, rather than the uniforms. Her green eyes flicked over Fellrik, looking over the red alien, noting his crimson stripes. How the crimson covered the tips of his six ears. His tail swished a little. She smiled at him.

Finally, Kekeri walked over. "Everything is all ready," he said.

/Excellent. Thank you./ The trio headed into the Berenson. Ishtel moved over to the consol and pressed a button.

A holographic image of a female Hork-Bajir appeared. "Ah. Ishtel-Arrepoth-Castant, Fellrik Zhin, and Nichole Marthes."

/Tabira Kharun,/ Ishtel replied with a nod. /We are prepared to leave for the alien planet./

"Excellent." There were sounds of buttons being pushed as the Hork-Bajir looked down at her work. She looked back up and spoke. "You are cleared to leave."

/Thank you./ He pushed a few buttons as the image disappeared and the view screen flicked on. Ishtel began to pilot the Berenson out of the Aximili.

The flight to the planet was rather uneventful. It took a few Z-space jumps, but other than that things went smoothly. Nichole spent her time reading up on her history. She chewed on her lip and tapped the toe of her right boot behind her as she read. Her brown hair fell around her when she heard the familiar hum of the ship stop. She looked up, frowning. "Are we th—" she began, then saw a Grinkin ship on the main view screen. It was long and black, shaped like the head of an arrow with round viewscreens.

Ishtel swiveled a stalk-eye around to look at Nichole. /Nichole, what should we do?/ he questioned.

Nichole pushed past him and contacted the ship. A holographic image of a Grinkin popped up. He was a pink-skinned bear-like creature with a smooshed face. He had eight legs and reared up onto two of them. Had it not been a hologram, she might have been more frightened of the eight-foot alien. The Grinkin had tufts of purple fur at random points on their bodies. They were not a united species, though. They were divided into six factions. Each could be determined by the tattoos they had. He had red tattoos, which showed he was from the Huliites faction, a faction focused on destruction and conquering. He bared his teeth at her. "What are you doing here?" he growled.

"We are explorers from the IAS Aximili. What are you doing here?"

He grinned fiercely. "We are here to conquer the species below."

"No! You can't!" Fellrik burst out.

"He's right," Nichole said with a wave of her hand to silence him.

The Grinkin laughed. "I would like to see you try and stop me in that thing."

She cut the transmission and turned to her companions. "Fire!"

Ishtel and Fellrik fired on the ship; the shredder blasts rang in their ears.

The Grinkin returned fire and rocked the ship. The group held onto the consoles as best they could as the ship shook and rocked. "Fire back!" Nichole screamed over the sound.

Ishtel slid across the floor on black hooves, then scrambled back to his consol. He and Fellrik fired on the ship.

Nichole gripped her consol as the Grinkin fired repeatedly at them. "Engine One is down," Fellrik reported.

/And Engine Two isn't far behind it,/ Ishtel added.

Suddenly the ship took a nose-dive. /We're crashing!/ Ishtel yelled as the three slid to the back of the ship and were pressed together as a jumbled mess of limbs, tentacles, and tails. Three voices melded into one as they screamed.

There was a sudden jolt as the ship came to an abrupt stop.


End file.
